(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and a system for determining a fuel efficiency ranking for a particular driver of a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a method and a system for determining the fuel efficiency ranking for a particular driver of a vehicle that allows a driver to consider the differences in various environmental factors relating to the driving of vehicle in addition to particular vehicle models.
(b) Background Art
Due to the recent increases in oil prices and increasing public awareness on eco-friendly environment, vehicle drivers have become more sensitive to fuel efficiency while driving a car. Therefore, it would be useful for a vehicle driver to be able to obtain real time ranking information on fuel efficiency to determine if the way that driver is accustomed to driving is efficient compared to those of other vehicle drivers.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-064254 discloses an eco drive monitor for providing information on driving advice including the above-described information in accordance with each driver's requirement.
Fuel efficiency generally depends on various environmental factors in driving that cannot be controlled by a driver's intention or skill other than a driving speed and the vehicle model. Such environmental factors include climate-related environmental factors such as temperature, rainfall, snowfall (e.g., related to the use of air conditioner/heater in a vehicle or the use of 4 wheel drive), etc., and traffic-related environmental factors such as the degree of congested traffic, the number of intersections, the number of traffic lights, the quality of roadway, the kind of roadway such as local roads or highways, etc.
However, conventional systems for fuel efficiency ranking discriminate only between vehicle models without considering other factors, and handle the factors en bloc. Particularly, these systems generally do not consider temperature as an environmental factor, and thus a driver driving a vehicle under a low temperature environment (winter season, cold region) or high temperature environment (summer season, tropical region) cannot fairly evaluate the driver's fuel efficiency in comparison to other drivers and thus he may feel like he is not achieving as good of fuel efficiency in comparison when in actuality he has no control over his current fuel efficiency. Also, there have been often cases where such conventional systems may not give a driver a motivation sufficient for an eco driving.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.